vulcan death grip

Vulcan nerve pinch

As used in the fictional Star Trek universe, the Vulcan nerve pinch is a technique used mainly by Vulcans to render another lifeform unconscious by pinching a pressure point at the base of the victim’s neck with all four fingers opposing the thumb. Normally this is done to other humanoids, although in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Spock successfully uses the nerve pinch on a horse-like creature.

Origin and use

Leonard Nimoy, who portrayed the Vulcan science officer Spock, conceived the maneuver in the early days of the original Star Trek series. The script for “The Enemy Within” stated that Spock "kayoes" Captain Kirk’s duplicate, but Nimoy felt that such an action would be undignified for a Vulcan — he therefore invented an alternative. In Star Trek’s scripts, the pinch is referred to as the FSNP, for Famous Spock Nerve Pinch.

Some humans, however, have been unable to use the nerve pinch. Spock once commented that he tried but failed to teach it to James T. Kirk. Likewise, when Dr. McCoy was in possession of Spock’s Katra, he was unable to use the nerve pinch.

The nerve pinch has been used on Vulcans and the Vulcanoid Romulans several times, showing that neither race is immune to the technique. The only human to have ever been insensitive to it was ColonelGary Seven, possibly because of metabolic alterations obtained on his planet of adoption (TOS: “Assignment: Earth”). It has been proven ineffective on robotic androids when Spock took the time to softly try it on android Alice, who simply asked him calmly if that gesture had a significance (TOS: “I, Mudd”).

Confusion with Vulcan Salute

References to the nerve pinch outside of Star Trek often show characters attempting the nerve pinch while placing their hands in the position of the Vulcan Salute. However, observation of Spock in the episodes reveals that the nerve pinch is not done with the same hand position as the salute.

Physiology

There is no on-screen canon explanation of how the pinch works. Over the years, fans and Expanded Universe writers have made a number of suggestions as to how it works.

The book The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry offers a simple explanation: the pinch blocks blood and nerve responses from reaching the brain, leading to unconsciousness. In this earliest of Star Trek reference books, the pinch is referred to as the “Spock Pinch.”

One conjecture was that, because of Vulcans’ telepathic nature and incredible control over their own bodies, they are able to send a burst of neural energy into another being and overload its nervous system, rendering it unconscious, although the pinch does not work on all species (Or all humans such as Gary Seven). This was supported by the fact that Dr. McCoy could not use it in Star Trek III, but it has been rendered moot by the fact that many non-telepathic characters have used it in modern incarnations of Trek such as Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek Enterprise, as well as Lieutenant Commander Data, who is an android.

Another conjecture is that it can be done by applying strong and surgically precise pressure over baroreceptors of the carotid sinus at the base of the humanoid neck. The objective would be to elicit the baroreceptor reflex as the receptors detect an apparent high pressure state due to the externally applied force and causes reflex bradycardia and/or hypotension, leading to decreased blood supply to the brain and syncope. However, this would likely require bilateral pressure.

Death grip

The Star Trek episode “The Enterprise Incident” makes reference to a Vulcan “death grip,” which is supposedly a more powerful and lethal version of the nerve pinch. Spock pretends to use it on Captain Kirk in order to complete a mission. Nurse Christine Chapel later asserts that the death grip is a myth (giving the famous line "there's no such thing as a Vulcan Death Grip!"), later confirmed by Kirk still being alive. Spock does, however, do something to Kirk that simulates death to such a degree that Romulan doctors certified him dead. Kirk later states that Spock used a nerve pinch to simulate his death, but what Spock exactly does is not explained.

Reality

In reality, there is something similar. You can lose consciousness when pressure is aplied to vagus nerve in your neck.

The book The Action Hero’s Handbook gives instructions for performing a nerve pinch.

In The Simpsons episode “Mayored to the Mob,” Homer uses the Vulcan Nerve Pinch (or, as Marge thinks, a sleeper hold) to knock out his children. He is then scolded by Marge and promptly repeats the technique on her also. Realizing there is 30 minutes left until supper he applies it to himself.

In the Futurama episode “Where No Fan Has Gone Before,” the Planet Express crew are forced into a fight to the death with the cast of the original series. When Nimoy is fighting Bender, he tries to “see if this actually works” and attempts one on Bender, which could never work, since he is a robot.

In the video game Space Quest 6, The Vulger Nerve Pinch uses the same placement of the fingers, but requires the person to also speak lines from Tango and Cash or Hudson Hawk, the combination of the pinch and dialogue from the two movies causing neural overload. Roger Wilco uses this to incapacitate a guard so that he can steal a shuttle.

In the story, Savage Shadow, written by The Shadow’s creator Maxwell Grant the character Doc Fauve (which is French for Savage) in a drunken haze applies the nerve pinch to his newfound pal, writer Kenneth Robeson.

In the pilot episode of Heroes (“Genesis”), after Hiro Nakamura makes the claim that he is able to bend space and time, making references to Spock and Star Trek, and is dragged back to his cubicle by his manager, his friend Ando Masahashi shouts to him that he should use his “death grip.”

In an episode of A Different World, Sinbad’s character Walter Oakes used the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on two dangerous cocaine dealers after the gang accidentally discovered their stash during a Spring Break vacation in Miami just in the nick of time and, a little later on, to silence a talkative Whitley Gilbert.

In the non-canon Star Trek/X-Men crossover by Marvel Comics Spock used the nerve pinch on Wolverine. Wolverine surprised Spock by almost immediately recovering due to his healing factor.

In an episode of My Name Is Earl, "Early Release", Darnell uses a Vulcan neck pinch to incapacitate a prison guard while assisting Earl in an escape attempt.

In Police Academy 5, Nick Lassard places his hand on a perp's shoulder, who promptly faints. Officer Conklin and Sgt. Jones are dumbfounded by this, after which Lassard gives the Vulcan salute and shows an empty syringe on his other hand.